Posts tagged with: Papal conclave

We’re approaching the first anniversary of the election of Pope Francis as supreme pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church. Acton President Rev. Robert A. Sirico joined host Warren Pierce on The Warren Pierce Show on WJR Radio in Detroit Sunday Morning to discuss the style, substance, and impact of Pope Francis on the Vatican as he continues to lead the church. You can listen to the interview via the audio player below.

We’re continuing to round up clips of Acton involvement in the media coverage of the recent papal conclave and the election of Pope Francis, and today we present two clips from across the pond that our American readers likely haven’t seen yet. First up, Istituto Acton’s Kishore Jayabalan joins Father Thomas Reese, former editor of America magazine and current fellow at the Woodstock Theological Center in Washington, DC, to discuss the conclave process as it progressed; the interview took place prior to the election of Pope Francis on March 13th.

Acton President Rev. Robert A. Sirico also made an appearance on the BBC, providing analysis for GMT with George Alagiah on March 14 following the election of Francis.

We continue to round up media appearances from the days surrounding the election of Pope Francis in Vatican City on March 13. This particular clip features Acton President Rev. Robert A. Sirico and Instituto Acton Operations Manager Michael Severance, who discuss the new Pope’s style, as well as some of the challenges and opportunities he faces as he assumes his role as the leader of the Roman Catholic Church.

Those who thought Pope Francis was going to be a “a jolly, badly-dressed, Gaia-worshipping baby-boomer from 1972 received a severe jolt of reality today”, says Sam Gregg, Acton’s Director of Research. In today’s National Review Online, Gregg is quick to clear up any thoughts of the new pope being a relativist or pop culture phenom. While Pope Francis has made it clear from the very beginning of his pontificate that he wishes to draw attention to the poor, he’s not simply concerned with money matters:

Pope Francis underscored the point when he revealed that one of the reasons he chose his name was to draw attention to the deep spiritual poverty that he sees as characterizing the West. Poverty, Pope Francis reminded the assembled diplomats, goes beyond the material dimension. That of course is a classic Christian insight. In the sight of God, everyone — whatever their economic class, sex, or skin color — is inadequate and needy. And the spiritual poverty which Francis especially has in mind has a name: It’s called moral relativism and skepticism.

Gregg points out that the pope’s words draw on natural law, “the truth to which he refers is written into the very nature of all human beings.” On this basis, Francis calls out for renewal of dialogue between Christians, non-Christians and non-believers.

Francis’s point is that establishing better relations can’t be just about short-term accommodations that try to paper over deep differences of view with lots of diversity talk. Nor can we be content with establishing skepticism about truth claims as the only acceptable context for discussion. We need to be willing to argue about our differences, and to do so on grounds acceptable to all. And that means we must engage in the even more difficult preliminary work of establishing just what those grounds are.

Something new and something a bit older today for our PowerBlog readers. First of all, Rev. Robert A. Sirico, President of the Acton Institute, joined host Mary Jones of The Mary Jones Showin Connecticut to discuss the Inaugural Mass of Pope Francis as well as how he is likely to handle some of the issues he will confront as he takes the helm at the Vatican.

Listen to the full interview here:

As for something a bit older: we also want to share this clip of analysis by Rev. Sirico on Pope Francis at the time of his election on Your World with Neil Cavuto on the Fox News Channel.

On the popular Italian news portal Ilsussidiario.net, Rev. Robert A. Sirico is interviewed about the social and political views of Pope Francis. To a question about Francis’ rejection of liberation theology, even as many of his fellow Jesuits embraced it, the Acton Institute president and co-founder replied that “it was a very brave thing that Pope Francis did at that time in Argentina, and all the more difficult because he had to confront his brother Jesuits who were attempting to politicize the Gospel and service to the poor.”

Metropolitan Siluan (Muci) of Buenos Aires, an Orthodox Christian hierarch, was the representative of the Patriarchate of Antioch at the inaugural mass for Pope Francis this week. Notes on Arab Orthodoxy has a personal reflection on the new pope from Met. Siluan (and links to the Spanish-language originals). The Orthodox bishop offers insights about the qualities of this “very easygoing” new pope from informal meetings and dinners he took part in. Met. Siluan:

At the table where the cardinals from Cuba, Ecuador, Santo Domingo, etc. were gathered, I wanted to know the opinions that they had of the pope. So each one of them agreed to answer the question: What are the qualities of Pope Francis?

I will share below some of the answers that I received. Some of it I already shared with [Argentine news station] C5N, who asked me to share some of what I experienced here.

One emphasized the fact that the pope is an organizer, who knows where and how to get something done, a man of great simplicity and mercy.

Another emphasized that the pope is a man who understands his surroundings well, who is generous, a man of words who knows how to speak without offending.

A third said that he is a humble man, who is transparent, honest, who knows things in Latin America who will know how to tell those who correspond from each of those countries what he will have to do. (more…)

Alejandro Chafuen, President of the Atlas Economic Research Foundation, is hoping that newly-elected Pope Francis will be able to sort out the misunderstandings of what “social justice” means in the Church today. In today’s Forbes, Chafuen suggests that “social justice” has too often meant (especially in places like the pope’s home country of Argentina) taking from the rich and giving to the poor.

Chafuen observes that the Jesuit order, to which Pope Francis belongs, has a long intellectual history when it comes to describing what social justice should be. (more…)

Michael Severance, operations manager of the Istituto Acton in Rome, recently wrote an article for the World Catholic Report explaining why Pope Francis was a historic choice and examining what we can expect from his papacy.

He points out that “this past week proved a historic week of firsts:”

We now have the first Jesuit pope. And the first pope named Francis. He is the first non-European pope since Gregory III, an eighth-century Syrian. And we now have the very first pope from the Americas.

We have also witnessed a pope who is shunning what some critics perceive as Vatican tinsel and niceties during these economic hard times.

Francis has refused to ride in the pope’s private car (preferring the shuttle bus) or to wear red shoes and a fur-lined cape, or mozzetta, opting for ordinary black shoes and a white cassock.

This is the first time in a very long while that we have listened to a pope who readily quips in public and frequently includes off-script interjections to prepared remarks—at his first Mass with his brother cardinals, then a second time during his first press conference with journalists on Saturday, then a third time during his Sunday sermon at the Vatican parish of St. Anne, and again only a few hours later at his noontime Angelus, when he preached from his apartment above St. Peter’s Square. Not even John Paul II was at such ease with humor and his own words so early on in his pontificate.

Since Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio was somewhat unknown before he was elected Pope, Severance has compiled a brief profile of Pope Francis, focusing the pope as a pastor, thinker, and advocate for the poor. (more…)